The present invention relates generally to heat sources for warming food, and more particularly to a burner for liquid or jellied fuel for use with a chafing dish or other food warming utensil.
Chafing dishes, fondue pots, and other such utensils are typically located on a serving table away from the point at which the food they contain was originally heated. In order to further heat the food or merely to keep the food warm, a source of heat such as a portable burner is provided under the chafing dish. Preferably, the intensity of the heat source is adjustable.
One known heat source is an alcohol burner which burns either liquid alcohol that is held in an absorbent material, or jellied alcohol that is often supplied in its own aluminum container with removable lid. Such alcohol burners sometimes include a valve closure for variably covering the exposed fuel for the purpose of regulating the flame or for extinguishing the flame.
One problem associated with using an open flame burner as a heat source is that the flame is susceptible to being blown out by incidental wind gusts which frequently occur when the chafing dish is used out of doors, and which also occasionally occur indoors due to locally occurring drafts. It would be desireable to provide a chafing dish burner which alleviates the problem of the flame being extinguished by ambient air currents or gusts of wind.
Another problem with known burners is that the valve closure is often mounted so as to pivot to the side, and there is not always sufficient clearance from other chafing dish supporting structure to permit the valve closure to travel through its full design range of motion. It would be thus be desirable to provide an improved valve mechanism.